Little Wonders
by mdiggory
Summary: Let your troubles fall behind you, let it shine until you feel it all around you and I don't mind if it's me you need to turn to we'll get by, it's the heart that really matters in the end.


_a/n: o.k. here is the latest of my Brachel series, I want to thank everyone for their amazing reviews of the previous three installments, really I was grateful to even receive just one, lol. I promise to keep the Peyton bashing down to a minimum, I actually sorta kinda like her but come on, sometimes the girl just makes it sooo easy to take the cheap shots, lol. After I'm finished I'll post the whole thing on my livejournal page and clean it up a bit, for some reason the entire last chapter was underlined and it wouldn't let me erase the chapter so I could fix it, whatever. Oh, someone mentioned that Haley was really irritated by Rachel's presence, well you have to remember all of the cattiness between them in high school over Nate and the stolen calculus tests. Rachel stealing all that money from Brooke and just disappearing for months then the argument they had on the phone in Keep Breathing. It's funny how on the show Haley can forgive everyone except for Rachel but what are you gonna do, right? The title and song is Little Wonders by Rob Thomas, enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: all characters belong to Schwann and co._

_**Little Wonders**_

_Let it go_

_Let it roll right off your shoulder_

_Don't you know_

_The hardest part is over_

_Let it in_

_Let your clarity define you _

_In the end_

_We will only just remember how it feels_

_The weather is surprisingly warm for this time of year so Haley suggests that she and Brooke have lunch out on the quad at Tree Hill High. Setting her cob salad down on the table farthest away from the students mingling about Haley rolls her eyes at the commotion Brooke's presence is causing amongst the male population._

"_I don't know why I thought it'd be any different now that we've graduated high school."_

"_What do you mean?" Brooke asks, following Haley's gaze behind her she spots a group of teenage boys, football players by the looks of their letterman jackets, ogling her. Never one to pass up an opportunity to flirt she throws them a wink and a dimpled smile before turning back to her lunch companion._

"_So explain to me again exactly why you don't eat in the teachers lounge, I'd always assumed that place would be like Mecca to a teacher's pet like you."_

"_For the same reason you shouldn't go backstage at the Ice Capades."_

"_What, did you see Big Bird making out with Snuffy?"_

"_More like Miss Edwards shamelessly throwing herself at Principle Turner."_

_"Well that's a lost cause, according to Rachel, Principle Turner is gay."_

"_Speaking of the she-devil, what's up with you two lately?" if Haley hadn't known Brooke as well as she did she wouldn't have recognized the classic Brooke Davis avoidance techniques. Brooke adverts her eyes, flips her hair over her shoulder before haughtily responding " I don't know what your talking about." and taking a bite of her Cesar salad._

"_Last night at dinner, all of the little touches and secret smiles, plus this is the first time I've seen you two apart since she came back into town. I'm half expecting her to be squatting in the bushes nearby."_

"_Rachel and I are…friends and how do you __half _expect something anyway?"

"Just friends as in Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway or _Gale and Oprah_?"

"And what, pray tell are you implying tutor wife?"

"She's asking if there's substance behind your lesbionic undertones with this Rachel chick." a voice interrupts them. Turning to see the young brown haired girl she caught shoplifting in her store a few weeks ago. The girl nervously eyes Brooke for a moment then rudely asks Haley, "What's so important that you wanted me to meet you during my lunch period?"

"Brooke I'd like you to meet Samantha Walters, Samantha this is my good friend Brooke Davis."

"So what, you dragged me away from eating just to prove how cool you are by introducing me to a pseudo celebrity?"

"No, I asked you to meet us here so that you may have the opportunity to pay restitution to Brooke for boosting the top your wearing before she has you arrested." turning to Brooke Haley continues, "you said yourself that you needed to hire more help at the store right?"

"Look, I don't need your charity." Samantha starts to back away but Haley stands up to stop her.

"Good because I'm not in a very charitable mood." Brooke dismisses the girl and goes back to eating.

"Brooke!' Haley admonishes

"_Haley!" _Brooke mocks in return, she tries to keep up her icy demeanor but soon caves under Haley's stern teacher expression. "I suppose I could use an extra pair of hands at the store in the afternoons. Between working on the sketches for the spring line and launching this new company I'm already stretched pretty thin. Millie's got to have someone there with her, preferably someone who won't try to pull a Wynona the second my back is turned." taking another look at the roguishly dressed girl wearing far too much eyeliner Brooke sighs, "So what do you say Avril, 4 p.m. today?"

"A choice between working in an enclosed space with her _highness_ for hours on end or locked away in prison with convicted criminals?" stretching her hands outward and balancing her palms like a scale, Samantha pretends to weigh her options. Brooke can't help but find amusement in the little snots antics.

"Hey, working in retail may be hell at times but if you've ever seen any of those '_Lifetime Women Behind Bars'_ movies I wouldn't take too long to make a decision, _New Fish_."

Haley merely shakes her head, wondering if she could get fired for threatening to have one of her students arrested for something that happened before she even attended this school. "So what do you say Samantha?"

Sam looks back and forth between the two women, working close to Brooke Davis at Close Over Bros would be the dream job of every girl in this school but to Sam it would mean a solution to quite a few of her problems. Hoisting her backpack onto her shoulder she feigns indifference, "Yeah, whatever but make it 4:30 I've got stuff to do." and then she is gone.

"Well that didn't go half as bad as I expected." Haley takes her seat and resumes eating.

"I'm no longer speaking to you." Brooke childishly turns her head away from Haley

"You just did." Haley points out.

"Well, from this moment on, then"

"Still talking." Haley taunts, causing Brooke to throw a crouton at her .

Our lives are made

In these small hours

These little wonders

These twist and turns of fate

Time falls away

But these small hours

These small hours still remain

Standing in front of a store she thought she'd never be able to enter again, Sam wipes her sweaty palms on her pants and takes deep breathes to settle her nerves. 'Just relax,' she tells herself 'you only swiped a few shirts, you'll go inside, work off your debt and keep your head down. Don't engage in conversation and everything will be fine.'

Spying the young girl through the window Millicent anxiously calls over to her boss, "Um Brooke, that weirdly aggressive shoplifter is back, should I have Bruno handle it?" Bruno, the new security guard steps closer to the door, hand resting on his nightstick, ready for action but Brooke waves him off.

"No need, I'm expecting her."

"You are?" Millicent asks

"Yeah, she's part of Haley's _no delinquent left behind _outreach program." Brooke puts the finishing touches on the mannequin she was dressing and goes to meet Samantha as she enters the store. "You're late, Avril."

"It's 4:32, " Sam says, checking her watch "and my name is Sam, _princess_." Brooke smirks at the girls nerve.

"Alright, Millicent this cheery little ball of sunshine here is _Avril," _Brooke says with a playful wink_, " _she's going to be helping us out with inventory tonight. Could you please give her a tour of the stockroom while I audit the register?" Millie hesitates as she watches the evil eye stare-off between Brooke and the new girl, finally deciding that the sooner she gets started the sooner she could leave, Sam turns an impatient look to Millie who then quickly leads her to the back room.

"What is wrong with these kids today? I was never that rude in high school Bruno." Bruno wisely keeps his mouth shut but he can't help leering at his employer as she returns to the register.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'Three hours,' Sam grumbles 'I've been trapped in stockroom Purgatory for three freaking hours! This has got to be violating some sort of child labor laws.' Stepping off of the ladder Sam puts down her clipboard and rubs her tired eyes. 'Still it beats the alternative.'

"Hey Avril!" the annoyingly raspy voice calls from the other room, "Foods here come eat." Sam considers for a second denying that she's hungry and skipping out but at that moment her stomach decides to rebel against her and growls so loud she's sure they can hear it in the next room.

Shuffling out onto the main floor, she's greeted by the site of _Her Royal Pain in the Ass _and a unfamiliar red head sitting on a blanket spread out on the ground. They're unpacking nearly a dozen white Chinese food take-out boxes and Brooke sets up a cutlery place setting right next to her, patting the ground for Sam to sit like she's some kind of well trained pet. Sam continues to stand in place a minute longer just to spite the older girl but Brooke just rolls her eyes and focuses her attention on the red head who seems to be enjoying the show.

"You got something against P.F. Chang's kid?" the red head smirks, looking back and forth between Brooke and Sam.

"Well this looks like such a romantic layout, I'd hate to crash your date."

"Are you always this charming Avril?"

"Depends, are you always this obnoxious, Princess?"

"Okay kittens," the red head interrupts " retract the claws and Avril.."

"My name is Sam."

"Then take a seat Sam I Am, the food is getting cold." Sam sits down next to the red head, the lesser of the two evils, and picks up her chopsticks.

"So let me guess, your Rachel the _Friend."_ Sam uses her chopsticks to create air quotes around the word. Her statement appears to piss Brooke off and amuse Rachel.

"And you're the _New Fish _Brooke hired to work afternoons."

"Well I wasn't so much as hired as I was blackmailed into working here."

"Hey you do the crime, you do the time Avril," Brooke says giving her that annoyingly perfect dimpled smile, "Rach did you get any orange chicken?"

"Hot and spicy " she says, passing the carton over to Brooke with a wink

"Just how I like it." their fingers touch as Brooke takes the carton from Rachel and a blush creeps across her face.

"I know how to take care of my hoe, even got you white rice and extra fortune cookies."

"I knew there was a reason I kept your slutty ass around."

Sam nearly chokes on her mandarin chicken at the heated stares that pass between the two, "And you wonder why Mrs. James-Scott thinks your sleeping together." The words slip out of her mouth before she even has time to think. Brooke has a _deer caught in headlights_ look on her face but the unflappable Rachel simply shrugs, "We've been sleeping together every night for the past three weeks, pass to soy sauce please."

All of my regret

Will wash away somehow

But I cannot forget

The way I feel right now

"Urg, my feet are killing me," Rachel exclaims as she tumbles into bed beside Brooke, "the realtor must have shown me like a dozen spaces before I found the perfect set up for our new offices. It's this old warehouse down by the riverwalk that was renovated by an architecture firm that went belly up last spring, so I got it for a song. Their loss is our gain." stealing a glance at her silent bedmate she notices Brooke staring off into space, absentmindedly twisting the sheets in her hands. "Sorry if I'm boring you but I'm only talking about phase two being complete, we have our office space and now we can move on to hiring staff and getting ready for the launch.."

"Why'd you tell Avril that we're sleeping together" Brooke suddenly cuts her off.

"Um because we are?" Rachel dumbly waves her hand over the bed indicating that they have been sharing the same bed every night since she returned to town.

"Technically yes, but the way you said it insinuates that there was something… sexual about us sharing a bed. We barely know that girl, what if she runs off spouting to the press about us?"

"Okay first, tutor bitch wouldn't ask you to hire the kid if she thought there was any chance that Sam would sell all your juicy secrets to the tabloids. Second if you'd stop arguing with her you'd notice that underneath the snarky exterior she's actually a really cool kid and third there's nothing sexual about us sharing a bed, i.e. no gossip girl fodder to worry about." turning over onto her side facing away from Brooke, Rachel pulls the covers over her shoulders and attempts to burrow her face into the pillow. As Brooke turns off the bedside lamp and settles into bed the only sounds that can be heard are their light breathing and the waves gently hitting the docks outside.

"Are you disappointed?" Brooke softly asks a half hour later.

"That you're a paranoid nutcase? I came to terms with that back in high school."

"No, " Brooke replies, spooning Rachel from behind she slides her hand around Rachel's waist and buries her face in the crook of Rachel's neck, "are you disappointed that there's nothing sexual about us sharing a bed?"

There is a sharp pain in Rachel's chest as her heart suddenly stops then starts to beat double time, "Do you _want there to be something sexual about us_ sharing a bed, Brooke?" her voice is scratchy and her throat is dry. Brooke tightens her grip around Rachel's waist and Rachel can feel the other girls heart beating just as erratically as her own.

"These last few months have been… you have no idea how glad I am that you came back Rachel. And not just because you've helped me deal with the attack and all of my demented momma drama. You know, I wanted to adopt a baby and whenever someone would ask me why I told them it was because I had all of this love inside of me just bursting to be let out and I wanted someone to love me just as much in return. But you want to know the really ironic thing?" she pauses as a tear slides down her beautiful face and drifts down Rachel's neck "I think I already had that but …but I left it in New York months ago. I listened to my mother instead of my heart and I let go of the one thing, the one person that makes me whole." her tears are falling in a steady stream now and Rachel can no longer bear it. In an instant she turns and pulls Brooke into her arms as the girl's sobs wrack her small frame. Running her fingers through the silky chocolate locks she tips her head back until she is staring into shiny hazel eyes.

"I'm so sorry that I left Brooke, I swear that if I ever do again then you have my permission to push me down the stairs." Brooke closes her eyes and laughs, Rachel leans over and kisses her eyelids. When Brooke makes no move to pull away Rachel tilts her head further and softly their lips connect. She inhales sharply at first contact and it feels like every nerve ending in her body has been electrocuted.

Brooke moans deep in the back of her throat as Rachel's tongue sweeps across her lips seeking entrance. Once entrance has been granted Rachel's tongue teases Brooke, darting in and out of her mouth, reigning dominate one moment then submissive the next, leave it to Rachel to constantly keep her guessing. When her lungs began to burn for lack of oxygen they break the mind numbing kiss and pull back to stare wide eyed at one another, breathing heavily.

"I know I'm a damn good kisser Brooke but do you have to wear that goofy ass look on your face.?"

"My face is simply a reflection of yours." they're quiet for a moment and Rachel reads the unspoken question in her eyes.

"We'll take it slow, I'm not going anywhere Brookie." she says, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"I should think not, I seem to recall having permission to push your skanky ass down the stairs if you do."

"Whatever whore, now go to sleep we've got a busy day tomorrow." and with that they snuggle under the covers wrapped in each others arms.

A/N: I know I'm probably going to catch hell about the Oprah comment but I needed a comparison to really close friends who may or may not be dating and they were the first to pop up in my head. So don't get mad, this is fan fiction here and plus I'm writing this at 4:10 in the morning. Besides, Kathy Griffith uses that joke in her act all the time so if you want to flame someone start with her, lol.


End file.
